Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2008 November 30

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November 30

Media-Wiki question

Resolved

 – — neuro^{IT'S MY BIRTHDAY!} 15:35, 1 December 2008 (UTC)

Which is the Media-Wiki page for the "From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia" that appears under the title -- CD 22:14, 29 November 2008 (UTC)

MediaWiki:Tagline. :) Best, PeterSymonds (talk) 22:17, 29 November 2008 (UTC)

How do I delete my account?

My mother is furious because I created an account without permission. What is the deletion process? Grader12 (talk) 02:33, 30 November 2008 (UTC)

Due to the fact that Wikipedia content is licensed under the GFDL, all edits must be kept for attribution purposes, and so your account cannot be deleted. You do, however, have the right to vanish, which you can exercise by (1) requesting your user page (found at Special:Mypage) and/or user talk page (found at Special:Mytalk) be deleted, by adding the {{db-userreq}} template to them; (2) requesting to change your username to something that is unconnected with you (possibly a random collection of letters and numbers); (3) never logging in to your account again. If you do this, you may not register a new username to continue editing Wikipedia as invoking your right to vanish is final. Woody (talk) 02:38, 30 November 2008 (UTC)

"Right to vanish" is mainly about the right to make a dramatic exit. If you simply stop editing, the same effect occurs, except you don't make a final, self-aggrandizing statement as you go out the door. If your mother doesn't want you to continue to edit Wikipedia, don't. This is a voluntary project, and if you just stop editing, no one is going to come to your house to make you start up again. --Jayron32.talk.contribs 04:17, 30 November 2008 (UTC)

I believe your mother is making a mistake. I believe the collaborative editing model of Wikipedia represents the future of work in the liquid fuels constrained world you are about to inherit. The sooner you learn to edit on Wikipedia, and to understand how Wikipedia manages to organize the efforts of millions of volunteers without an organization, the greater your competitive advantage will be over the bulk of people who don't yet get it. Also on Wikipedia, you have the chance to interact with some of the smartest people you are ever likely to meet - a privilege many parents spend heavily to buy temporarily for their children by sending them to college. On Wikipedia you can have something similar for free. Editing on Wikipedia has some risks, of course, but millions of parents accept the far greater risks inherent in sending their children to college. I hope your mother will read this, and if she has any questions, I invite her to pose them on my talk page. --Teratornis (talk) 20:11, 30 November 2008 (UTC)

Just in case there's been some kind of misunderstanding as to what a Wikipedia account involves - it basically boils down to the fact that your edits can be attributed to a single identity, rather than an IP address that could change. The only reasons I can imagine a parent might get upset about creating an account would be if they thought it (a) involved some kind of financial factor, or (b) would expose you to unsavoury types. As for (a), having an account neither costs nor earns you money (except in terms of lost productivity), and as far as (b) is concerned, no more than if you hadn't registered an account, although you would be wise to not reveal too many personal details anywhere on the internet if you think the wrong sort of people might see them and use them against you. Confusing Manifestation(Say hi!) 23:09, 30 November 2008 (UTC)

How do I Link to image page without embedding the image?

How can I add a link to an image in the text of a page (such as talk page) without embedding the actual image? If I use the syntax "[[Image:Latin alphabet Aa.svg|this image]]", I get the embedded image, , as I would expect. I'd like to insert a blue link such as this image that links to the image page. I know I can use a fully qualified html link, but is there a wiki image link syntax for what I want to do? -- Tcncv (talk) 03:14, 30 November 2008 (UTC)

Add a colon like this: [[:Image:Latin alphabet Aa.svg|this image]] — Sebastian 03:22, 30 November 2008 (UTC)

Thanks. -- Tcncv (talk) 03:26, 30 November 2008 (UTC)

This is detailed at WP:EIS#Linking_to_the_image_description_page Hertzsprung (talk) 22:46, 22 August 2009 (UTC)

Subcats don't show up anymore after piping

Resolved

A while ago, I added "|use" to "[[Category:Energy]]" in Category:Energy use comparisons. This category showed up earlier in Category:Energy, but now, instead of showing up under "U", it's gone. Am I blind, or what's wrong here? (The same happened with at lease one other subcat.) — Sebastian 03:21, 30 November 2008 (UTC)

I see it in the category. Note that category sorting is case sensitive and it's under "u". PrimeHunter (talk) 03:41, 30 November 2008 (UTC)

Oh, duh! I must have taken that for another "µ"  ;-) Thanks! — Sebastian 04:09, 30 November 2008 (UTC)

Tom Murphy (Titan News Television Founder)

Tom Murphy (Thomas David Murphy) was born April 5, 1987 in Salem, OR. He was a student at West Salem High School in Oregon in which he was a co founder of "TNT" also known as Titan News Television in the Spring of 2003. Tom Murphy encountered complications with the student Leadership club the fallowing year with TNT and decided to leave its production to Student Chris Zigenhagel of Student Leadership and decided to spearhead a monthly show named "PTV" also known as Promethean Television. Tom Murphy was working within his Newspaper publications class alongside Lucas DeWilde on PTV under the supervision of Video Production teacher Grant Huhn and Newspaper teacher John Divelbiss. PTV would go on under student Lucas DeWilde after Tom Murphy graduated in 2005.Tom Murphy volunteers at Capital Community Television which is a subsidiary of Comcast. Tom Murphy is currently working towards a film and video bachelors of arts degree and still resides in Salem, OR. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Atomxmurphy (talk • contribs) 04:38, 30 November 2008 (UTC)

It looks like you are wanting to create a biography of person who may not meet Wikipedia's notability guideline; most people are not notable enough to have an article on Wikipedia. Articles must demonstrate the notability of the subject, citing to reliable sources which verify their content. —teb728 t c 08:00, 30 November 2008 (UTC)

I hope Tom Murphy will find some time during his meteoric rise to small-screen stardom to read the friendly manuals on Wikipedia. The similarity between the username of the original poster and the subject of the biographical snippet suggests this is the start of an autobiography, in which case the O.P. should read Wikipedia:Autobiography. Actually, meteors typically fall rather than rise, and tend to burn out or explode within a few seconds of becoming visible, but I like the metaphor despite (or perhaps because of) this. --Teratornis (talk) 20:19, 30 November 2008 (UTC)

do an article

What I have to do if i want to add my link that is relevant to the Business Research article that is speaking about routine e-mail and memos, my link is http://routinemails.weebly.com/ so i tried to to link it to it but it didn't work. i created an article but also didn't work. please i need help because i need to know what is the good way to add the link about routine e-mail messages and memos please help in this —Preceding unsigned comment added by Comm 212 8 (talk • contribs) 06:41, 30 November 2008 (UTC)

Your edits, Special:Contributions/74.57.17.11 and Special:Contributions/Comm 212 8 were reverted by a bot and by two different editors. Please take time to review our external links & spam guidelines, and take note that Wikipedia is not a repository of links, not a directory, nor an advertising service; amd when you have a conflict of interest, you should avoid linking to a site you are connected to. —teb728 t c 07:35, 30 November 2008 (UTC)

Two articles on the same subject

EE Times and Electronic Engineering Times appears to be about the same subject. I would merge them, but I don't know which one of those names the article should be under. --Silver Edge (talk) 07:37, 30 November 2008 (UTC)

Have a read of Wikipedia:Manual of Style (abbreviations)#Acronyms as words in article titles; I'm sure you're more familiar with the topic than I am. :) — Manticore 09:13, 30 November 2008 (UTC)

It would appear from the mag's website that it is most commonly known as "EE Times" so I would merge Electronic Engineering Times into EE Times, then redirect the former to the latter. – ukexpat (talk) 16:27, 30 November 2008 (UTC)

Uploading a PD photohraph

I have prepared an article, and I want to add a couple of historical photographs (public domain and commons. I have spend hours and hours in Wilipedia and Commons trying to work out how to do this, but am in treacle. If I can be directed to an upload template for Wikidedia, I will upload the pics and if anyone wants to delete them, OK. Uploading to Commons seems unnecessary, and extra steps.Mav62 (talk) 11:38, 30 November 2008 (UTC)

Here's the upload page: Special:Upload. Cheers. Chamal ^talk 11:40, 30 November 2008 (UTC)

Or you can use Wikipedia:Upload, which gives more details if you're not familiar with the image policy. I suggest you use that one. Chamal ^talk 11:41, 30 November 2008 (UTC)

• Uploading at Commons works the same way as uploading to Wikipedia and doesn't take much extra work (assuming you know how to set up an account). However, if you upload to Commons, the images can be used on all Wikimedia Projects instead of just the English Wikipedia, which is worth any hoop-jumping as far as I'm concerned. - Mgm|^(talk) 11:52, 30 November 2008 (UTC)

What is an insecure admin account?

I noticed admins User:RickK and User:Zoe were blocked because they had an insecure account. Their userpage shows that their account has been indefinitely blocked as it has been compromised. They themselves reported about it at the admin's noticeboard (long time back).

So what is an insecure account and how is it compromised? --KnowledgeHegemony ^talk 14:12, 30 November 2008 (UTC)

An insecure administrator account is simply an account in which the password has been cracked (usually because of a weak password) or given out. It's a bit like if a normal Wikipedia account is compromised, but if someone gets into an admin account (or any type of passworded account); but a lot more damage can be done to Wikipedia with the +sysop flag. Both of these users left the project some time ago and were emergency desysopped; they probably didn't know about the compromise, and the accounts have been blocked to prevent any further abuse. Best, PeterSymonds (talk) 14:15, 30 November 2008 (UTC)

(Just as a further note) It wasn't themselves who reported it; it was another person using their account. Apparently both users had the same password. Best, PeterSymonds (talk) 14:28, 30 November 2008 (UTC)

Thanks! --KnowledgeHegemony ^talk 14:46, 30 November 2008 (UTC)

You're welcome. :) PeterSymonds (talk) 14:48, 30 November 2008 (UTC)

FA nomination

Resolved

 – — neuro^{IT'S MY BIRTHDAY!} 15:33, 1 December 2008 (UTC)

Where do I go to nominate an article to become a featured article? Unless, of course it must be noticed by an administrator first. -- A ^talk/_contribs 14:39, 30 November 2008 (UTC)

Nope, it doesn't have to be nominated by an administrator. See the instructions at Wikipedia:Featured article candidates. See also the Wikipedia:Featured article criteria for what FAC reviewers look out for. Best, PeterSymonds (talk) 14:41, 30 November 2008 (UTC)

• Don't forget to dig up who did most of the work on the article you want to nominate and see if they agree it's ready. You don't want to nominate it while they're still working on it. Also, Nominators are expected to fix issues if they come up. You will probably want to have back up helping you address issues. - Mgm|^(talk) 15:52, 30 November 2008 (UTC)

Thanks! -- A ^talk/_contribs 16:42, 30 November 2008 (UTC)

Copyright rules

Resolved

 – — neuro^{IT'S MY BIRTHDAY!} 15:34, 1 December 2008 (UTC)

A new user has added a GNU copyright notice to the bottom of an article (Claudia E. McCarthy) he created. Although I have been editing for a couple of years now, this is the first time I have seen an explicit copyright notice in an article. Does this agree with Wikipedia's copyright policy? How should this be handled? Thanks. Truthanado (talk) 18:55, 30 November 2008 (UTC)

• All the articles are covered by a single copyright page. One shouldn't be explicitly put in an article. - Mgm|^(talk) 19:53, 30 November 2008 (UTC)

ask question about certain subject

I am new to this and don't understand what you mean when you say "sign question using a certain mark, where do I find the mark.

next is where can I ask a question about a certain drug?

thanks

This mark is the tilde. You will find it on your keyboard to the left of the "enter" (remember to hold shift + ~) button, and four tildes signs your name, like so: ~~~~. Alternatively, there is a link to the four tildes below the save button, to the right of "Sign your posts on talk pages:" Best, PeterSymonds (talk) 18:58, 30 November 2008 (UTC)

On some Dell keyboards in the US, the tilde is on the upper left of the keyboard, just left of the "1" / "!" key. Truthanado (talk) 19:01, 30 November 2008 (UTC)

and it's a real pain in the arse to access on many mobile devices - which more and more people are using every year.... --Cameron Scott (talk) 19:04, 30 November 2008 (UTC)

It would be interesting to know the percentage of Wikipedia edits made from mobile computing devices, particularly from the smaller ones. My guess would be that anything with a small screen is best for merely consuming pre-packaged information, rather than the type of reorganizing we do on Wikipedia. When I edit a Wikipedia article, I might open a dozen browser tabs, to view sources, other articles on Wikipedia, and Wikipedia's internal manuals. Even on a desktop computer, there is no such thing as too much display space for this kind of work. --Teratornis (talk) 05:41, 1 December 2008 (UTC)

See also Wikipedia:Sign#How to sign your posts. It walks you through how to sign posts on talk pages. --- Barek (talk • contribs) - 19:59, 30 November 2008 (UTC)

And see Help:Edit toolbar, which describes this handy signature button which I will demonstrate by clicking the one in my edit toolbar right now: --Teratornis (talk) 23:51, 30 November 2008 (UTC)

As to the drug question, you can ask on the Reference desk, but first read Wikipedia:General disclaimer and Wikipedia:Medical disclaimer. --Teratornis (talk) 23:53, 30 November 2008 (UTC)

Changing a article title

Resolved

 – — neuro^{IT'S MY BIRTHDAY!} 15:33, 1 December 2008 (UTC)

I have created a page for the person W. Ian Lipkin. Unfortunately, Wikipedia automatically uncapitalized his last name and removed the W., ruining the page completely. This turned the page into Ian lipkin. I would like it if this were dealt with, but your instructions on changing an article name are wrong (even using an account older than 4 days) and so I cannot change the article name.

How can this be dealt with?

 Done I moved it for you. :) Best, PeterSymonds (talk) 19:15, 30 November 2008 (UTC)

changing category titles

I want to change Category:UNO Mavericks football players to Category:Nebraska-Omaha Mavericks football players. How do you do that? DandyDan2007 (talk) 22:38, 30 November 2008 (UTC)

See Wikipedia:Categories for discussion. PrimeHunter (talk) 23:10, 30 November 2008 (UTC)